This invention relates to pet toys, and particularly to toys for carnivorous animals such as dogs and cats.
Chewable pet toys provide a variety of beneficial functions for the pet carnivore. Chewing on such toys provides the carnivore with masticatory exercise, as well as dental prophylaxis. Irregular shapes impart erratic movements to the toy when rolled or bounced, thereby provide exercise for the animal. Such toys often provide a training function, teaching the carnivore to chew on the toy, rather than on furniture or other valuable items.
To enhance the attractiveness of the toy to the carnivore, sensory attractants have been incorporated in the toy. These toys attract the carnivore and encourage the carnivore to chew on the toy, rather than on furniture or other personal property. Thus, the sensory attractant is particularly advantageous as a training device for the carnivore. Often, these sensory attractants are an integral part of the toy, molded into the plastic or other material of the toy, making it impossible to remove the attractant without destroying the toy. More recent toys employ a cavity designed to retain a replaceable attractant.
Two examples of toys designed to retain replaceable attractants are xe2x80x9cKongxe2x80x9d available from the Kong Company of Denver Colorado and xe2x80x9cNylabone.xe2x80x9d These toys have hollow cavities in which the attractant is loosely retained until dislodged by the animal. The cavity is open at an end to permit insertion of the attractant, such as a dog biscuit or other treat. The toy is constructed of resilient plastic, such as a non-toxic elastomer, so that the cavity is resiliently crushed by the chewing action of the animal, thereby breaking the attractant. This permits the animal to crush the attractant and dissolve it with the animal""s saliva so that part of the attractant is expelled through the opening to the animal, thereby maintaining the interest of the animal. When the attractant is fully removed by the animal, the pet owner may replace the attractant so that the toy may be reused. Another toy is available from Planet Pet, Inc. of Naples, Fla. and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,366 to Mauldin. The Planet Pet toy employs spines within a treat-receiving shaft. The splines bend to grip the attractant to rigidly hold the attractant until dissolved or chewed to a reduced size by the animal. The Planet Pet toy requires insertion of the attractant by simultaneously rotating the attractant to bend the splines while pushing on the attractant to force the attractant into the attractant-receiving shaft. However, the shear strength of many attractants, such as dog biscuits, is inadequate to overcome the reaction force of the splines. As a result, the splines broke the attractant into smaller pieces during insertion, making them easier to remove by the animal. In some cases, the attractant crumbled into such small pieces as to be too small to be gripped by the splines, rendering the toy relatively useless as a sensory attractant holder.
The present invention is directed to a non-consumable pet toy for rigidly holding a replaceable sensory attractant, such as a dog biscuit or other treat, wherein the attractant is not subjected to shear forces that could break the attractant during insertion into the toy.
A non-consumable pet toy according to the present invention comprises a three-dimensional body formed of substantially solid resilient material. The body has a trapper cavity that has first and second opposing walls that extend into the body and define an attractant-retaining space between them. The trappercavity has at least one end open to an external surface of the body to permit insertion of an animal attractant into the trapper cavity. The first and second walls of the trapper cavity terminate at first and second enlarged portions to define a width to the trapper cavity that is greater than a width of the attractant. The body is sufficiently flexible to permit compression in a direction parallel to the width of the trapper cavity and expansion in a direction normal to the width of the trapper cavity, so that a compressive force applied to the body in a direction parallel to the width of the trapper cavity expands the trapper cavity in a direction normal to the width of the trapper cavity to permit insertion of an attractant into the trapper cavity. Upon release of the compressive force the body relaxes to clamp the inserted attractant between the first and second walls.
Preferably, the trapper cavity is in the form of a half-bone with first and second large portions representing heads of the half-bone joined to respective edges of the first and second walls that define a space representing the shank of the half-bone. In some embodiments, a raised portion is optionally included on the external surface of the body adjacent the end of the trapper cavity; the raised portion having a generally half-bone shape complementing the half-bone shape of the trapper cavity. In other embodiments, the body includes a second trapper cavity having third and fourth opposing walls adjacent the first trapper cavity. The second trapper cavity has at least one end open to the external surface of the body to permit insertion of an animal attractant into the second trapper cavity. The open ends of the first and second trapper cavities being adjacent to each other such that the second and fourth walls are adjacent. In these embodiments, the compressive force on the body expands both trapper cavities to permit insertion and clamping of attractants in the trapper cavities. In these forms of the pet toy, a bias bridge may be included between the second and fourth walls to bias the respective second and fourth walls against respective attractants in the first and second trapper cavities.
In preferred embodiments, the pet toy includes a bias cavity in the body and a bias member separating the bias cavity from the trapper cavity. The bias member is operatively associated with the trapper cavity to bias the cavity wall against an attractant in the trapper cavity so that the attractant is retained in the cavity. Preferably, the bias cavities are apertures parallel to the respective trapper cavity and the bias members are continuous bias bridges between the respective bias aperture and trapper cavity.
In all embodiments of the invention, the toy optionally includes a plurality of elongated spaced protrusions on an external surface of the body to generally define a protruding ring on the body. The protrusions promote erratic movement of the toy, holding the interest of the animal.